Automation in Healthcare: Benefits and Challenges
Automation continues its rise as a major influencer across industries. You can see this in many of the areas that we’ve explored before such as automotives, agriculture, and manufacturing. But one that is becoming even more dominant is healthcare. There are many aspects of the healthcare realm that are shifting thanks to automation, whether that be patient care or drug development. In this post, we dig into some of the trends surrounding this movement.
Automating the Pharmacy
Pharmaceuticals, in particular, are poised to experience exponential growth in automation. Driven by demands such as prescription volumes and packaging, research has predicted that the industry will reach $12.7 billion by 2028. In fact, companies like Amazon Pharmacy have already integrated automation and AI to enhance processing and delivery services. As this trend further progresses, the U.S. and Europe are leading the way. However, the Asia-Pacific region is also increasing efforts.
But it isn’t just the pharmaceutical arena that automation is re-imagining. In addition to drug discovery and manufacturing, automation is streamlining practices in clinical decision support (CDS) systems, genomics, and EHRs, which “hold vast quantities of information about a patient’s health,” according to Health IT Analytics.
Robots in Healthcare
Of course, another area often connected to automation is robotics, which is also rapidly integrating into healthcare settings. As Robotics & Automation News explains, “Healthcare robots are transforming medical care by taking on routine tasks, enhancing surgical precision, and offering emotional support to patients.” For instance, patient care robots are able to take over tasks such as sterilization, running materials to labs, etc. In turn, providers are granted more time to focus on more complex matters.
However, automation and robotic adoption also comes with its challenges as it does in all of the other industries it touches. The stakes are high in healthcare, therefore the capabilities of automation need to be very precise and able to meet ethical restrictions. A study from Mount Sinai has indicated that the tech may not quite be there yet. In dissecting generative artificial intelligence designed to help with coding automation, “the researchers determined all LLMs scored below 50% accuracy in generating unique diagnosis and procedure codes,” according to Healthcare IT News. Though work is needed, the guarantee is that the pursuit of applying automation and its corresponding technologies will continue.
Sources:
● “Pharmacy AI Set to Grow as Companies Look to Streamline” - PYMNTS
https://www.pymnts.com/artificial-intelligence-2/2024/pharmacy-ai-set-to-grow-as-companies-look-to-streamline/
● “Top 12 ways artificial intelligence will impact healthcare” - Health IT Analytics
https://healthitanalytics.com/news/top-12-ways-artificial-intelligence-will-impact-healthcare
● “Robots in Healthcare: What’s New?” - Robotics & Automation News
https://roboticsandautomationnews.com/2024/05/08/robots-in-healthcare-whats-new/82839/#google_vignette
● “LLMs are not ready to automate clinical coding, says Mount Sinai study” - Andrea Fox, Healthcare IT News
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/llms-are-not-ready-automate-clinical-coding-says-mount-sinai-study